By Serge Lariviére
Fur Harvesters Auction (www.furharvesters.com) is the only auction house of wild fur in North America and they play a vital role in keeping the fur industry alive.
Auction houses typically attract more international buyers and set the price for most of the items in the industry. In comparison, smaller buyers can sometimes pay a higher price for a specific item if they have a request from one of their customers. A large auction house will provide skins for anybody, anywhere, and their strength is being able to offer large volumes of skins of basically all species with reliable and consistent grading, so manufacturers can use the service as a one-stop shop.
Auction houses, because they attract buyers from all over the world, also tend to “firm up” prices. In other words, once the auction happens, the prices paid at the auction are used as a reference by many country buyers. Since there is only one auction house of wild fur left, what happens there in terms of sale prices has a huge bearing on the industry, so not surprisingly, this March sale at Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. was one to follow closely.
Again this year, and for the third year in a row, hosting a live auction was impossible because of COVID-19 and sanitary measures in place, so the company turned to an online auction platform. This enabled Chinese customers to play a much more active role, and this was deemed critical because of the situation between Russia and Ukraine, which prevented both countries from participating in the sale. Fur sales worldwide now happen almost entirely through online platforms, and although some argue that a presence in the auction room would yield higher prices, right now this is simply impossible because of the sanitary measures in place for various countries.
Back to the auction, the results were pretty good considering what was expected with the current situation worldwide. So let me start with the good news.
Castoreum – the castor glands found in beavers – continues to rise in price and the better grades from Western beavers brought up to $120 USD per pound, with the lesser quality bringing $90 per pound. Simply put – if you catch a large beaver with a normal set of castor glands, and you know how to handle them right (clean with no meat, dried for a few days, but not overly dried and no cuts, no holes etc.), you can expect at least $10 of castor glands for each beaver large or better. That is extremely good news as many trappers must continue to harvest beavers, either because of their quotas (in some Canadian trapline systems), or because they have a commitment to landowners or municipalities to help manage beaver damage. Or simply because they must harvest beavers for bait (for marten or fisher trapping) or for human consumption (the sale of beaver meat is gaining in popularity in many areas of Canada, for example).
The meat market in Canada will often pay upward of $15-$30 USD for a clean-skinned, freshly harvested beaver wrapped and frozen in food-grade plastic bag. Then comes the price for the skin: the auction at Fur Harvesters revealed a slight increase in beaver prices, which is good news, even if those prices still remain below the normal, long-term average and well below what is considered a profitable level. Eastern skins averaged $12.60, Western skins $11.80, so overall average of about $12 USD for a beaver skin. The good news is that a lot of the beaver skins offered were sold, and this shows that the trade continues to use beaver pelts, we just need the economic situation worldwide to improve.
Muskrats were mainly unsold, and my guess is that there is such a surplus of low-end ranch mink on the market right now that muskrats remain on the sidelines. Prices increased in the last year and most trappers were expecting muskrat pelts to bring somewhere near $5 USD average. Harvest of muskrats in North American is extremely low compared to what it used to be, and maybe this will help restore the market for next year.
Raccoons are often considered the backbone of many traplines in the U.S. by being extremely abundant in many states and available to be caught in large numbers. This year again, raccoon prices struggled to meet the $10 USD mark, with only the best skins from Western states and provinces reaching or exceeding such averages. Fur Harvesters Auction reported averages from $8.00 USD for Canadian grades, $8.40 for North Central, $14.41 USD for Canadian and $14.74 for Western heavy. Raccoon was traditionally often sold to Russia – and without that market – raccoons continue to struggle to reach normal profit levels. The trappers I spoke to in the past few months all indicated that they put very little effort into trapping raccoons on purpose, with most trappers waiting for prices to recover before going big again on this item.
Photo courtesy Steve Bartylla.
Coyotes have been hot during the last decade, but prices have been cooling off in the last two years after Canada Goose Company announced they were moving away from coyote fur on their line of fancy and expensive winter parkas. The sale at Fur Harvesters clearly showed the decreasing prices for coyotes. Western heavy skins, the best of the best, sold at $50.33 on average, with the top price only reaching $112 dollars. A few years ago – top prices always soared well above $250 – sometimes even $300 – and this sale just reflects the new reality of coyote prices. Eastern skins sold at $23.60 on average, with Central coyotes selling at $17.07 on average. The coyote market is slowly heading back to normal prices after 10-plus years of fantastic prices.
Martens and fishers sold almost completely with small increases in price. Fishers averaged $28.29 at this sale, and martens $35.18. Both of these species are important for many Northern trappers, and this trend upward is nice, but prices still remain well below what is expected and deemed profitable to harvest such beautiful skins.
Otters and wild mink remain low – not surprisingly, considering the vast quantity of ranch mink skins. Otters sold on average at $19.71 and wild mink $8.14.
Skulls are a hot commodity among collectors. Photo credit Jason Houser.
Taxidermy goods continue to sell well, and more and more trappers are learning to leave the feet on their beautiful wolf or even large coyote pelts. Cross fox and silver fox averaged $43.47 and $52.14 respectively, which is more than double the value of a normal red fox at $12-$16 average, depending on the section.
The Trapper’s Fur Market expert Serge Lariviére.
Conclusion? We are not out of the woods yet, and the industry still battles two large enemies: the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevents public gatherings, displays of wealth and normal business; and the war between Russia and Ukraine, which not only takes two major players out of the market, but also causes worldwide economic uncertainty.
Summer is upon us now, and we can only hope that both of these issues will be history by the time we enter into our next trapping season in the fall of 2022.
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